You must agree to have stem cells taken from your blood or bone marrow and given to someone else if you want to donate bone marrow stem cells. This is also called a bone marrow transplant or a transplant of hematopoietic stem cells.
People can give stem cells for an allogeneic transplant because a family member or close friend needs a match for bone marrow or wants to help others. In addition, some people give away their stem cells to get them back if they need an autologous transplant. This article discusses the ways of a bone marrow transplant.
If You Want to Give Someone Else Your Stem Cells, What Do You Need to Do?
There are rules in place to protect the health of people who want to donate bone marrow and patients who are getting stem cell transplants. A person’s ability to sign up as a donor may depend on several things.
Checking the eligibility list is a good idea for people, especially cancer survivors, who want to donate stem cells or sign up for a volunteer registry. They can also talk to a doctor to find the closest donor facility. People who want to give blood need to make sure they are healthy and would not provide the recipient with an infection. For more information about who can be a donor and what they need to do to qualify, please get in touch with the match for bone marrow or your local donation center.
Before the donation, You must give consent for the tests.
If a potential stem cell donor is a good match for a patient, the doctors teach the donor about the transplant process and make sure they make an informed decision. If someone wants to donate, they must sign a permission form and know in detail about the risks. The donor does not have to give money. There is always a choice.
If a person agrees to donate, the person will get a health check-up with a physical exam and a blood test.
What Can You Look Forward to?
Transplant of bone marrow
Stem cells are taken out of bone marrow through surgery. First, doctors use anesthesia to ensure donors do not feel any pain during the operation. Then, the doctors put through needles into the back of the pelvic bone to get bone marrow. Most of the time, this procedure takes one to two hours.
After bone marrow is taken out, donors stay under observation.
Donation of stem cells from blood outside the body
Donors of bone marrow stimulants are given injections of medicine under the skin (subcutaneously). This medicine makes more blood stem cells move through the body. Most of the time, the medicine is given a few days before giving blood.
A catheter is often put into a vein in the arm when someone gives blood. Stem cells are taken out of the blood by a machine that works on the blood. The blood is then given back to the donor.
Apheresis is the name for this process. It is a surgery that can be done outside of a hospital and usually takes between four and six hours. Depending on how many blood stem cells are needed, some donors may undergo many apheresis treatments.
Conclusion
Giving Bone Marrow and Blood Stem Cells is a big commitment. It is impossible to know what will happen to the person who gets your gift, but it may save a life.
